Sinamics

I would like to get some feedback if anyone has installed and tried UAVcast.
I’m going to add a more in depth usage explanation, but in the meantime any users opinion would be great.
If anyone want or has any suggestion to additional packages to be included, just give me a shout and i will do my best to include those as well.

Cheers.

crow

I received my rpi2 last weekend and started playing with it, I didn't realize you had just released the UAVCast image or I would have used it. I started setting things up manually from the instructions in your blog, just taking baby steps. That's OK, doing everything myself lets me get a better understanding of Raspbian anyway, I have very little prior experience with any kind of ux operating system.

Thanks to your tutorial I did manage to get gstreamer working over my home network, temporarily using a Runcam v1 in webcam mode. Tried to get a wifi dongle installed but eventually figured out that the Panda PAU05 I was trying to use is broken, neither the pi nor my laptop can read the USB descriptor from it.

Baby steps... I have a Logitech C615 webcam ($25 on ebay) , a TTL-Ethernet converter, and a replacement wifi dongle on the way. Will be using it with an APM 2.5.2 clone. Once I get everything working over my home wifi I'll get a Verizon Jetpack and a prepaid data plan. Maybe once I get all the parts I should just start over and give your image a try.

Sinamics

Hi Crow.

Too bad about your wifi dongle, really hope the new one is working better. I`ve been using Edimax wifi dongle for a while without any issues.

Did you test Runcam v1 in conjunction with gstreamer? Were you satisfied with the quality?

Just a tip; You could also just run the installation scripts instead of downloading the complete image, basically the same thing.

git clone https://github.com/UAVmatrix/UAVcast.git

Then simply run

cd Install/ ./Install.sh

Then edit the /DroneConfig.cfg and start the script using

sudo /home/pi/UAVcast/./DroneStart.sh

I never tried the C615, so please give us an update on the result.

crow

The Runcam always has a little lag even when viewing over a normal fpv 5.8g radio link, I would estimate the lag over my home lan (with the rpi wired, and my laptop connected to the same router by wifi) was about 0.3 to 0.5 seconds. I'm curious to see how the Logitech webcam will compare.

From what I've researched on the Logitech C615, it is also capable of 1080p, much of the differences vs the C920 that it has are not relevant for our purposes such as audio quality and facial recognition. The biggest difference is that the C615 is only capable of 15fps vs the C920's 30 fps, which again I expect shouldn't be an issue for streaming over a cellular link. Generally $20-$30 cheaper than the C920, we'll see how it does.

Thanks again for all the information you provide, I will try the install script and let you know how it goes.

mark_vanhaze

I ran the install script on a fresh image of Wheezy and the final output is as follows:

Sinamics

Seems like a permission issue.
Make sure you are super user when executing the script.

To log in as super user, type;

sudo su

Also try to set write permission to Install folder.

chmod 755 Install/

Sinamics

Update

I discovered a bug when using local address, e.g 192.168.x.xxx to the GCS_adress instead of DNS name. I have corrected this and updated GitHub with latest.

Chuckster1

Crow.
I also tried the Logitech C615. For my drone, I'm only using 720P video, which by the way, is a great picture (and more manageable for my cellular data plan). I'm actually using the C920 for 1 very good reason... C920 has onboard H.264 compression that requires no wait time.
I'm pretty sure my current G-streamer script wont even work with the C615. Please keep us updated on your baby steps. :-)

Sinamics

If anyone experience 404 errors, Change the apt source to use another server than used by default.

Tommy_D

installed your UAVcast image today, no problem with installing. but I have quite some steps to take to get this working on my hexCopter.

I used the " sudo nano /home/pi/UAVcast/DroneConfig.cfg " command, otherwise I was not allowed to change the script.

the pi now gives me this back when I use the "sudo /home/pi/UAVcast/./DroneStart.sh " command.

no crontab for root
Ethernet ip is 192.168.0.12
Seems like RPI is connected to Internet, all ok.
UDP_redirect script started
Could`t start gStreamer

what does the first line mean?

I do have a Logitec C270 Cam. do you think I can use it with your script?

best regards Thomas

Sinamics

Hi Tommy.

Thank you, i will update first post to include full path to DroneConfig.sh
Just ignore the "no crontab message". I will remove that message in the next release.
I have never tried C270, but i guess it should work. Just change the "picam" to "C920"

#Options; picam, C920
CameraType="C920"

If it still wont work, check if video0 exsist in folder dev/

crow

Just a note on experience with the Logitech C615. I went ahead and bought a C920 to compare to the C615. To get the C615 to work, I replaced the C920 function in UAVcast/scripts/camera.sh with this one, mostly from one of the earlier samples Bernt provided:

This stream will work with either the C615 or the C920, and using this one the RPI2 (with the max_usb_current=1 setting) will even power both a wifi dongle and the camera without having to provide external power to the USB devices. However at higher resolution settings gstreamer's processor utilization on the RPI2 will exceed 50%, as the h.264 encoding is being done by the RPI2. The C920 does produce a noticably better image than the C615 at the same resolution setting.

Using Bernt's standard C920 function in camera.sh does not work with the C615, and with the C920 plugged in and doing its own h.264 encoding it needs more power, the RPI2 cannot provide enough power on its on for both the camera and the wifi dongle.

Sinamics

Thank you crow for the complementary report.
So the C615 does not have its own H264 encoding? I think we should create two functions C920 & C615 and add this option to the DroneConfig.cfg file.
How about the latency between those two cameras, any difference?

BTW, thank you for the "max_usb_current " tip, i did`t know about it.
Is that parameter located in the /boot/config.txt ?

Roberta_Gil_Cembrano

Hello Bernt, is a fantastic job!!

I´m trying build my own image because I only need wvdial, gstreamer1.0 and gpsd, and I have two question,

Have you run gstreamer1.0 on jessie lite? I tried yesterday but was imposible, did you make anything special thing? In jessie it run ok.

I´m interested in gps data only, I don´t need more telemetry, How can I send this data from raspberry through 3g to my GCS, do you know any gpspipe?? I have my gps in ttyAMA0.

How say Crow in /boot/config.txt you can type max_usb_current= 0 or 1 at the end, if you put value 0 is 600mA on hub USB, and 1 is 1200mA, this command is only valid in rpi2.

Sorry for my english.

Thanks on advance.

vance.

Sinamics

Hi Roberta
Yes i installed gstreamer on Jessie Lite. See First post were i have attached Jessie Lite Image with preinstalled gstreamer.
What errors do you get when trying to install gstreamer?

You could probably just change and compile APM code yourself to using GPS data only in the telemetry stream. But it may be some other and better solutions.